Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

State Roundup: Bitter Ad Battle Marks Debate On Vermont Health Plan

The Texas Tribune: Senate Working On Abortion Sonogram Compromise Looking to prevent a House-Senate stalemate over a bill Gov. Rick Perry declared an emergency at the outset of the legislative session, a panel of senators today discussed an abortion sonogram compromise that would allow some women to wait just two hours after a sonogram to have an abortion, instead of 24 hours (Musa, 4/11).

Minnesota Public Radio: Medicaid Fraud In Minnesota (And The Twin Cities) Is Lucrative Minnesota Department of Human Services commissioner Lucinda Jesson says she sees estimates that anywhere from three to ten percent of the country's health care payments are fraudulent. Apply that to Minnesota's $6.7 billion Medicaid expenditures, and you come up with a range of between $200 million to more than $600 million in taxpayer dollars siphoned off by the fraudsters (Olson, 4/12).

Times-Picayune: U.S. Sen. David Vitter To Feds: Don't Grant Louisiana More Support For Successor U.S. Sen. David Vitter on Monday intensified his criticism of the state's plans for a Charity Hospital successor, telling the Obama administration in a letter that the federal government should not back any new debt for a project the senator says will become a long-term burden to taxpayers. ... Vitter's letter to U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan comes as the University Medical Center governing board continues to pursue mortgage insurance from the agency's program to aid hospital capital investments (Barrow, 4/11).

Burlington Free Press: Battle Of The Health Care Ads On Vermont Airways The Vermont Democratic Party begins airing a radio advertisement today that Jesse Bragg, executive director, said would "set the record straight" concerning Gov. Peter Shumlin's health care initiative. Another organization - Vermonters for Health Care Freedom - began running ads a week ago that suggested the Legislature was making a rash decision if it rushed ahead with the bill Shumlin is promoting. That bill would set the state on a path toward a much more consolidated health insurance system (Remsen, 4/12).

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